I know that I'm late on the quarter backed italian gown train... In my defense, these sleeves are a menace to set and once Prelude to Victory was cancelled I lost all desire to work on them. Here's my adaptation of a 1780's long-sleeved gown, at long last.
I used my chintz jacket as a template for this gown. It's four pieces connected with Abby's patented gown stitch, with 'butterfly' sleeves (each sleeve is one piece, but it opens up into a Y at the elbow to accommodate the change in angle.) I didn't trim it yet, although I plan to get some gauze onto it once I have the chance to. I sort of like it plain too, though, and I can bring it up into the 1790s with various accessories if I want to.
This gown is a walking Vogue fabrics commercial! The gown and petticoat silk are both from the home dec section. The muslin millinery is courtesy of B&T and the facing is scrap silk from my stash.
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| Thanks for the pictures, Rebecca!!!! |
The front still needs to be taken in. If I could have helped it I would have set the sleeves about 5 degrees more forward so that the bodice wouldn't be so wrinkled at the underarm, and I would have made the skirts longer - but I can just polonaise them up if I'm deeply unhappy about that.
Today's lesson: measure twice, cut once, piece it if you did it wrong!
